~ a collection of thoughts from the country

Category Archives: Christian Living

I was driving by a church recently and their marquee continues to bother me. “Christ gave his life for you. Can’t you give him an hour on Sunday?”

Really? Just an hour? That’s all I have to do? Show up at church for an hour and I’ve repaid what Christ did for me?

I grew up on the Gospel of “3 Times A Week” and the idea that showing up for church is the best right-thing I could do. As long as I was at church I was doing OK. Drinking too much? Showing up at church dressed right and listening to the preacher was the best cure for that. Using drugs? Showing up at church dressed right and listening to the preacher was the best cure for that. Having sex? Lying? Stealing? Eating too much? Prejudiced? Showing up at church dressed right and listening to the preacher was the best cure for that.

The problem I continue to wrestle with from my training is the idea of “at church” instead of “be church”. I have heard too much about the need to be at church as the cure for all the worlds problems when Christ called us over and over to be the church to the world.

If I am being the church, how much time do I have for drinking and drugs and illicit sex and hating another person because of skin color or where they live? Being the church is a consuming task and one that requires me to think about others instead of myself all the time.

Congregating is good. It is needed. It is a positive energy producer when we surround ourselves with other people who want to be the church. People love being with people who build them up, feed them spiritually and emotionally and go into the next day and week with the energy that we are serving others, we are building others up, we are feeding others. That’s exciting. That’s energy building stuff that motivates us and moves us.

An hour on Sunday? C.mon Pastor. Jesus asks for our LIFE, not an hour. He calls us to LIVE like him, not sit on your pew and make you feel good that we showed up to hear you.

I’m not giving up an hour of my life to be AT your church. When you are ready to engage me AS the church, let’s talk and see if we can’t find a way to change ourselves and the world to be what Christ has really called us for.

A New York Times article on today (10/23/15) by Jack Healy reports on the Mormons take on gay marriage and the law. Dallin Oaks, described as a high-ranking apostle in the church, said, “Office holders remain free to draw upon their personal beliefs and motivations and advocate their positions in the public square. But when acting as public officials, they are not free to apply personal convictions, religious or other, in place of the defined responsibilities of their public offices.”

The article is written regarding Kim Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who has refused to provide marriage licenses for same-sex couples. The article goes on to quote Jonathon Rauch with the Brookings Institute as saying it’s a pretty big deal the Mormons have embraced compromise over conflict.

Here’s my point. The Mormons DID NOT compromise. They followed what the Bible teaches, that we render unto the government what belongs to the government and that we live out our life of faith. Jesus never called us to fight against government. That is exactly what the Jews were wanting in a Messiah and Jesus wasn’t that guy. He told us to love and care for the poor, the hurting, the ones thrown away by society, widows and orphans, the sick. Never did he tell us to condone sin or make religion a political soapbox but to love and to care for those who need love and caring.

The Mormons are not compromising on same-sex marriage. They still oppose it and call it sin. Neither are they compromising on what an elected official of the government should do when required to follow the law. Sure, fight against the law. Certainly, speak out against anything that is not of God’s design. But, when you lose, follow the law.

Kim Davis did what she did from personal conviction and I have no beef with that. I don’t agree with her decision but it was/is HER decision. I do not agree with all of Mormon teaching either. However, I agree with them here; same-sex marriage is wrong in the eyes of God and should be wrong in the law of the land. It isn’t so we have to live with it but that doesn’t mean we cannot continue to stand firm and speak our convictions, vote our beliefs and trust God to take care of the outcomes.

We are called to worship. We are called to a time and place where the saints gather and worship the Lord.

We are called to rest. We are called to a sabbath time where the saints rest and worship the Lord.

In between are the days where we are called to be the church, to minister, to love, to teach, to help.

I am not trying to be too literal in the day of worship, day of rest and days of ministry. In our world they all seem to blur together.

My point is this. Christ’s “church” is called to do a lot more than go to a church service or take a day off to rest but it seems that is often overshadowed by the need to be “at church”.

I remember when I started to love to be at the worship service. It was when I started missing it for baseball games my son was playing on Sunday mornings. It was when my life got hard and I had people minister to me at those baseball games unlike anything I had experienced in a worship service. It was when I was able to reach out and touch some other people at those games and feel God working through me. It was in those times and times of personal turmoil that I wanted to be with some brothers and sisters who loved me and to share worship with them. It was after I came to know Jesus personally because of some people who were working in my life when I was hurting and raw that I came to love gathering to worship. It was during that time I learned that worship isn’t a command so much as a gift.

We are called to be Christ to others more than we are called to worship. Living Christ-like will drive the desire and passion to worship Christ.

I recently saw a sign at a local congregation that read, “If excuses came to church the pews would be full.” Funny sign.

I pass by this building several times a week and read their sign. I believe they are good people with the intention of doing good things. I notice their sign is often about people needing to come to “the church” and attending services. It got me thinking about all the times Jesus called his followers to be at services.

Jesus called us TO BE THE CHURCH, not come to church. We have abused the word “church” so much that we have forgotten it is a group of people, not a building. He said to GO, he showed us how to walk among the lost, to eat with them and join them in their homes. He taught us to love and to give.

Now, the sign is right in one sense because I have been one to use excuses why I can’t be the church. I’m not good enough. I don’t know enough. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I’m not a good people person. Yada, yada, yada. I have used excuses to not be the church. If excuses could be the church, maybe the hungry would be less hungry, the naked would be less naked and the hurting would be a little less hurt.

I look forward to the day there is much less focus on the pews and much more focus on being active as the church. If our hearts are in the right place and our minds and bodies are doing the right thing, the pews will take care of themselves.

I have found myself engaged in lots of “church” talk with people lately. I am blessed with friends with a wide range of views on lots of topics and “church” is one of them. I know people who think it’s a complete waste of time, who think it is unnecessary, who view it as a good place to meet people and some who think you better be there every time the doors are open and it’s a good idea to be at least 15 minutes early then.

Several years ago I attended a church that had a “Plum Full Sunday” with the idea of asking people to come to church to fill the seats. It was a big push and lots of effort was put in to getting butts in pews for one Sunday of the year. That’s where the fallacy began.

As I think more about church and what it means and should mean, I realize we need to be inviting people to know God. We need to invite people to meet our Creator and Redeemer, the one who loves perfectly and exemplifies the love we should have for each other. If we can come to know God and live the life he desires for us then invite people to know the God we know…well, I’m convinced we would not know war or racism or hatred and even our misunderstandings would be resolved quickly.

Our congregational settings are a place where a bunch of people with a bunch of ideas often gather to worship (unless they want a piano and there isn’t one or vice-versa, unless women are involved or vice-versa, unless things are done a certain way or not). Our congregational meetings, or church as some call it, are flawed because they are run and led by flawed people.

God is not flawed so why would we invite someone to a flawed gathering when we can invite them to a perfect God?

I’ve got a friend I haven’t spent that much time with but feel like we’ve been friends since we were two. I think we both think about a lot of things in similar ways with some differences thrown in to keep it lively. One of the things we’ve been discussing lately is “church” – how it’s done, what it means and why we go. Something he said the other day really struck a chord with me and I thought…

“Isn’t is odd that we try to define and confine to certain standards something (church, that is) that Jesus was doing that was radical?”

I’ve often said I grew up being taught the “Gospel of Attendance” and heard often, “do not forsake the assembly” as the mantra for who we were and why we did what we did. Guess what? If the assembly is trying to live out the Gospel by convincing the Baptists to dump the piano and that the “Church of Christ” is a non-denominational, singularly correct church, then the assembly just might need to be forsaken.

God-in-a-box isn’t what I read about in the Bible. I’ve spent years listening to teaching on instrumental music, baptism, women’s roles and other areas of “worship” and there is so little of that in the life of Jesus, the true Gospel. Jesus told Peter he was building his church “on this rock” but it wasn’t a physical rock Christ was talking about, it was the heart of a man who wanted to be a disciple.

We don’t find church on a street corner, in a big building with a nice sign out-front and ample parking for hundreds, if not thousands, of people. WE FIND CHURCH IN OUR HEART’S DESIRE TO BE A DISCIPLE. We don’t find church as acts of worship, we find church on the streets, we find church serving the poor, the broken, the orphans and widows, the homeless and hungry, and we find it in reaching those who have so much (materially), they do not understand or have a passion for what they lack (spiritually).

My life has been pretty easy. I’ve had more than I needed and it was easy to sit on a pew and enjoy the show. Nod my head and talk about what a great lesson the preacher laid down on my way to Luby’s. That was church for me for far too many years.

I now find church in my vulnerability. When I am willing to be transparent about my life, my decisions and my actions, I often find church. When I am willing to sit with a drug addict, or in a classroom of them, and tell them our life worked out differently but our hearts and our heartaches have traveled many of the same roads AND God still loves and is ready to embrace us, I often find church. When I’ve sat on a creek bank with men who were homeless and when I’ve cried all the way home leaving them in 108 degree heat while I headed back to a working A/C unit, I often find church. When I talk to a true friend, one I can be completely honest with, and share my heartache, my brokenness and my fears, I often find church.

Do you want to know if you are doing “church” right. When your life looks like Christ’s example in the Bible, I’m confident you’ll know you are on the right road.

I say all of this boldly also knowing I have so much to learn about what being a disciple means. This is where my heart is today. It’s where Jesus is leading me today. When I get it all figured out, I will be sure and lead with that. Until then, I’m just pouring out what is on my heart and my mind. God, give me grace.

I drove by a church the other day that said, “Atheists have believing in their future.” While I believe that is true, I wonder if that is the message we should be sending atheists.

What about today? Do they need to believe today? If so, what is our message to them? Is “believe today” good enough?

The trouble with signs is they make a place for cute messages but the message often isn’t the one Christ gave. He said to love.

Love is kind. Are our signs always kind are do they come across as warnings, or worse, snippy messages.

Love is patient. Sure, the sign said believing is in their future so patience is afforded in that comment. However, will we be patient with them?

Love believes all things. Do we think our cute signs will be the change people need or do we believe that, through love, Christ will work through us for His purpose. Does that require a sign or a relationship?

I get the purpose of the sign and I understand the church is trying to do a good thing but I hope they will speak and act in love more than in messages on a board.

Love requires patience, love is kind, love believes in people because they are all children of God. Love is active and constant and takes work. Love requires relationship and relationship is what truly leads to Christ.

I have driven on ice in Texas for the past 35 years and never had a dent or ding to my vehicle. My dad taught me to drive on ice when I was 15. He had been stationed in Greenland in the Air Force so he knew all about ice driving and shared it with me. They were lessons that have paid dividends over the years so that I’ve never missed a day of work or had any injuries due to ice. Slow and steady wins the race on those days.

Last Thursday, we had ice on the ground when I came to work. No problems for me. I was in my office when the receptionist came in and told me a coworker had run into my truck and wanted me to come outside. Well, sure enough, the lady was trying to pull into a spot close to me and slid right into my back door. Man, she felt horrible. She told everyone at work about it, put it on Facebook and apologized to me multiple times. I constantly reminded her it was only metal. No people were hurt and that was all that was important. Three other people at work came and asked me if I was okay. Of course, I said. I only felt bad for my coworker who never meant to cause harm and was only doing her best to be a good employee.

Life is like that. We go for years and nothing too bad happens and then someone dings us even when they didn’t mean to. It makes me wonder how many times I have dinged other people emotionally or spiritually without meaning to do it…and may have been completely oblivious to it.

Insurance will pay for the damage. It will be fixed and we’ll both go on. No blood, no foul. It isn’t always that easy with the emotional and spiritual damage we cause. Sometimes those dents last a long, long time. I pray for heapings of grace and mercy when I have run into someone else without meaning to and even more grace and mercy when I did it knowing I could choose another path.

I’m thankful Christ has already paid the insurance bill for the dents I cause.

I survived the first night living in a barn. It may be my “home” for the next 6 months or so.

I started a new job recently. It’s 3 hours from home/Decatur so I’m spending 4-5 nights a week in the new town and 2-3 nights back in Decatur on weekends. I own a home in Decatur that needs some more repairs before I can sell it and I need cash flow to make the repairs. Quite the conundrum. So, to save money I am living in a room in a large arena. It has a small shower, toilet, sink, fridge and microwave. The bed is on a bed frame that is the wrong size and without cross support so it shakes and shifts whenever I move. Life can be an adventure even in bed.

It certainly makes one stop and think when living in a barn. I step outside and the ground is covered with dirt and smells like horse manure. It smells like those places that hold moisture. It strips down the niceties of life to some core elements.

I admit I cried last night. Frustration from the lack of sleep. Frustration from putting together a bed frame that doesn’t fit or work right. Frustration from floors with dirt so deep it may never come up. Frustration that this room isn’t my spacious home. Frustration that I am away from my son, away from the people who are close to me, who are my support system and trusted advisors, away from everything I have known for the last 18 years and in a place where I know no one in a town so small there is nowhere to go at night besides the Subway and a BBQ joint. I am alone and things just are not going my way. Or so it seems…

My mind shoots off to the homeless guys I used to work with in Denton. Preston, Mikey, Wendell and Chris. I wonder where they slept last night. I wonder where the person who just became homeless and doesn’t know the ropes slept last night. I wonder what they will eat today and where they will get out of the cold. I wonder if they will ever get a job. I wonder how happy they would be in my little room. I wonder how many people they would jam in it to stay warm. I wonder how they would feel to have a shower this morning, a cold bottle of water at reach. I wonder how they would feel knowing they could come to work, grab a cup of warm coffee and make a few bucks.

Jesus Calling was the first shot that hit me broadside today. It started off like this, “Make me the focal point of your search for security. In your private thoughts, you are still trying to order your world so that it is predictable and feels safe. Not only is this an impossible goal, it is also counterproductive to spiritual growth.”

I have to admit, I don’t want spiritual growth right now. Oh, sure I want it on the surface. I want it handed to me. I’ve been on a journey for so long that has led to real spiritual growth and it has been a HARD journey. (Isn’t that typically the case? Isn’t that what Jesus Calling says today?) It’s been a 10+ year journey and I’m tired. Psalms 23:4 says I can walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and God is with me. I’m just so ready for green pastures and still waters. I want to live a life of ease for awhile. Maybe that’s wrong but I’m ready for the road to be easier. I wonder whether that can happen on this earth. It seems like other people have it easier but I don’t really know. I’m blessed with incredible kids and incredible people in my life. Maybe that is my green pastures.

These thoughts will be continued. I heard a song this morning that is haunting me and want to introduce it into this discussion.

I want to be better today than I was yesterday. I want to be a better Christ-follower, a better father, a better friend. The challenge is that I remember the past too easily, I remember my mistakes and my failings and it is easy for me to believe that is who I am. It’s hard to get better when you see yourself for your failings and weaknesses. It’s close to impossible to get better when that is one’s focus.

I am blessed to have many good people in my life. I’ve used Christian-centered counseling that has done wonders to help me see who God made me to be. I have friends that constantly lift me up and encourage me. I have children who love me in spite of the things I’ve done to hurt them. God is surrounding me with who I need to let go of yesterday and live for today, for a better today.

The challenge of the journey is the past. The past is the past, not something that defines me. I have to remember that. And constantly remind myself.

Today, I will try to be better than I was yesterday. It’s really all I can do. Love better. Look for what God puts in front of me better. Pray better. Serve better.